293: Trump and Fascist Dementia
As Trump surges his Gestapo and threatens to annex new territory, his brain is collapsing. He’s sundowning on Truth Social, nodding off in meetings, slurring words, slurping at the saliva pooling in his mouth. His insults and aggressions are as constant and predictable as his arms are, reaching out for handholds.
Up until this point, discourse on the mental health of this decrepit fascist leader has used the kid gloves of psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry, in which even the most informed analyses were constrained by the fact that experts were interpreting his inner states. For our part, we’ve compared his fate to that of charismatic cult leaders at the end of the line—and we’ll do more of that today.
Now a new posse of clinical commentators on IG and TikTok have made it all much more biological: we are witnessing, they say, the predictable signs of fast-progressing dementia.
Show Notes
Goldwater Rule vs Duty to Warn, American Academy of Psychiatry and Law
World Health Organization: Dementia
Signs and Symptoms of Dementia
USC study finds new evidence linking dementia to problems with the brain’s waste clearance system
A new drug could stop Alzheimer’s before memory loss begins
A 2025 update on treatment strategies for the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum
Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission
Study finds disparities in diagnosis and treatment of dementia
Decomposing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Risk and Protective Factors of Dementia in the U.S.
Mapping racial and ethnic healthcare disparities for persons living with dementia: A scoping review
Dementia Diagnosis Disparities by Race and Ethnicity
Racial disparities in dementia determined by social factors
Straight-forward Explainer: What’s Going on With NIH Cuts to Alzheimer’s Research?
